


Not Quite Unrequited

by GlarpNinja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 15:48:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17790242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlarpNinja/pseuds/GlarpNinja
Summary: A Valentine's Exchange Gift for estaticenuf!Theme: Confession





	Not Quite Unrequited

The final battle against the Galra army was perhaps the most crucial battle that Team Voltron, and by that metric; all of planet Earth had to face. After a week of fighting, the Paladins of Voltron stood victorious over the Galran forces, who had been vastly diminished. Many Galran soldiers fought until the bitter end, but it was General Vanxar who negotiated the terms of surrender after Zarkon, Lotor and Haggar had been vanquished in a surprise attack from the Blade of Marmora. The Galran forces left earth, and exiled themselves to a distant, derelict planet near the edge of the universe. Just like that, it was over. The wounded were tended to, and the dead were counted.

A few days later, at the headquarters of the Galaxy Garrison; the head council called for a day of celebration. The Paladins of Voltron watched as one of the biggest firework displays in history lit up the night sky. It took the Alteans and the other alien races within the coalition a few minutes to get used to this earthly custom; but eventually, they were watching in awe as well.

Keith, however didn’t pay much attention to the fireworks. He was… admittedly staring at the Altean Princess standing beside him, just as awestruck by her beauty as she was by all the colours that lit up the night sky. He summoned all the courage he required, counting to ten before taking Allura by the hand. No words were exchanged between them. Allura simply looked back at Keith and smiled, as the pilot of the Black Lion; the one who faced Zarkon alone in the Red Lion without blinking or hesitation suddenly couldn’t muster the courage to talk to her. Honestly? It was quite endearing. She placed a hand on his cheek, and as fireworks painted the sky above them, Allura proceeded to pull Keith in for a kiss. For Keith, having a literal princess be his first kiss was just about as magical as most people expect kissing an actual princess to be. Feelings of pure bliss and euphoria flooded his mind. An unwritten melody of undiluted jubilation rang in his ears. Every love song he had ever heard as a kid suddenly made sense. They held each other close before pulling away, as they both could hear the slow clapping from Shiro, Coran, Krolia, and Lance of all people. The two sat down together holding hands as they watched the rest of the fireworks display.

Pidge looked over at Lance as he celebrated with his family. Lance laughed hysterically at the sight of Veronica’s look of absolute disbelief as Keith and Allura shared a moment of intimacy under the fireworks. Pidge’s heart began to flutter slightly at the sight of Lance’s hysterical laughter. No matter how much she refuses to admit it aloud, Lance always did have a cute smile. The way his dimples would show whenever he laughed was always really cute to the Green Paladin. Pidge gave a sigh as she stared longingly at the self-proclaimed Sharpshooter; looking fondly at him in admiration just out of his view. He was just a few steps away from where she was currently standing. She could talk to him in private and tell him that she was into him and that she wanted to be more than friends. In all the excitement of this fireworks display, she could pour her heart out and tell Lance how she really felt about him.

No. He doesn’t see her that way. To Lance, she was just one of his best friends. Nothing more. If he was into her, he would’ve flirted with her or told her by now. She gave a dejected sigh and silently resigned herself to the fact that Lance would never see her as a possible romantic partner. But somewhere deep in the back of her mind, she held out hope that maybe… _just maybe_ Lance felt the same about her that she felt about him.

\---[Two Weeks Later]---

After saving the entire universe, The Paladins of Voltron had fast tracked themselves into gaining their teaching certifications. Keith sat in the office that the Galaxy Garrison had so graciously given to him for saving the universe, scribbling ideas on a sheet of paper as to what his Advanced Wilderness and Interplanetary Survival Studies course curriculum would _vaguely_ look like before being met with a knock at the door. Keith looked up to see Pidge, looking like she really needed to ask him about something.

“Pidge?” Keith said, confused as to why the smartest person on Team Voltron would come to his office and to him of all people for counsel.  
  
“Hey, Keith.” Pidge said nervously. “Can I talk to you?”

“Is this a school thing?” Keith asked.

“No…?” Pidge replied.

“Thank god. What is it?” Keith asked, lying back into his chair.

“Well… I’ve… sort of had a crush on this guy for a while and I’ve been keeping it private for a while, so I kind of wanted to confide in you about it?” Pidge explained.

“Sure…? I’m not sure why you’d come to me first, since you usually go to Lance or Hunk, but yeah. You can count on me to keep a secret.” Keith said.

“That’s the problem. I… may have a crush on Lance. Also, you and Allura are dating now, so maybe you can give me some advice?”  
  
Both of Keith’s eyebrows perked up.

“Oh.” Keith said as a silence filled the room for a moment. Admittedly, Keith wasn’t the best at picking up social cues like someone having a crush on another person, but that certainly was unexpected. Granted the whole space mall thing where Pidge and Lance bought the game console, he could feasibly see as Pidge wanting to spend time with Lance, but he just thought that Pidge really wanted that game console and dragged Lance along with her.

“Well, I can certainly keep that a secret. As for advice… don’t wait too long to confess? I waited years to confess to Allura, and even then, she was the one to make the first move. Maybe… you should take a page out of her book? I know I don’t have much experience with relationships, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait as long as I did.”

“But what if he doesn’t see me in that light? What if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?” Pidge asked.

“I don’t know. I’m really not the guy to ask about this kind of stuff. But you won’t really know if he reciprocates your feelings for him until you tell him that you have those feelings for him. Not to mention, if you hold off for too long, then he might find someone else before you can tell him. Don’t wait three years like I did. You might not have as much time as I did to confess.” Keith said, being surprisingly insightful.

“You didn’t confess, though. You said it yourself. Allura made the first move.” Pidge said.

“You get what I mean.” Keith replied.

“Okay. I’ll confess to him soon.” Pidge said, walking out of Keith’s office.

\---[One week later]---

It was the perfect opportunity to confess to Lance. Hunk had invited them all to hang out, watch a movie, and generally have a good time. After the movie, Lance drove Allura, Keith and Pidge back to their houses (Well, a Garrison paid apartment, in Allura’s case). Allura was dropped off first, giving Keith a peck on the lips, exchanging “I love you’s” with him before walking back to her apartment. Lance continued driving, reaching the Holt household in a matter of minutes. An odd silence befell the vehicle before reaching Pidge’s house. Pidge took a breath, biting her bottom lip as she pushed herself to confess to Lance. ‘It’s too late to throw away your shot now, so just go for it. Hold your nose and close your eyes, Katie. It’s time to jump into the deep end.’ Pidge thought to herself before finally breaking the silence.

“Can I tell you something, Lance?” Pidge said, fully aware that Keith was in the back seat, watching nervously and silently, as Pidge was about to confess to Lance.  
  
“Uh… sure?” Lance said.

“Um, you know how I told you a while ago that I had a crush on Griffin?” Pidge said, fidgeting nervously.

“Yeah? Have you told him that you have feelings for him yet?” Lance asked.

“Well… I don’t actually have a crush on Griffin. I… have a crush on you. This is me telling you that I have feelings for you.” Pidge explained.

Lance raised both eyebrows and went silent, presumably trying to process the fact that Pidge had feelings for her.

“Wow… uh, this is… certainly a lot to process. I… uh, wanna find a good way to word this. Uh... I mean… I won’t deny that you having a crush on me is a pretty big compliment, but I, uh… I need time to mull this over. I’m not explicitly saying no, it’s just that… you’re… like… one of my best friends and… like, a little sister to me. I just... need time to think about this.” Lance managed to say.

There was a sinking feeling in Pidge’s chest as she looked away from his gaze. “Oh… well, I hope we can stay friends after this…”  
  
Lance gave a laugh, placing a hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “Of course. No matter what happens we’ll still be best friends. I can promise you that.” Lance said, as he pulled her in for a hug.

“Okay. Thanks. I’ll see you at work tomorrow, I guess.” Pidge said, dejectedly.

“Yeah… see you tomorrow.” Lance said.

Pidge unlocked her front door and ran directly into her room, pulling out her phone and putting on the playlist that she always played when she needed cheering up and cranking the volume as loud as she could (without waking Matt or her parents) as she tossed her backpack aside. She sat at the edge of her bed as her confession; along with Lance’s response looped in her head like a broken record. She had always assumed that Lance didn’t feel the same way about her, and she came to terms with the possibility of  “Lance not liking her back” a while ago. But after seeing Lance obfuscate and dance around whether or not he reciprocated those same feelings was proof enough for Pidge that her feelings for him were unrequited. She was right. And she hated every moment of her bitter vindication. She felt the tightness in her chest, as if Lance’s words had put a stranglehold on her heart and was slowly squeezing the air out of her lungs. His indecisiveness about her feelings felt heavy, like someone had chained an anchor to her chest. She stared wistfully at the picture that she had taken of Lance, and she couldn’t help but smile at this goofy image of her best friend. Pidge stifled a laugh. Her best friend. It was then that the tears began to roll down her cheek as she came to the realization that all she’d ever be to him would be a best friend.

Pidge tried as best as she could to hold in her emotions. She tried as best as she could to compartmentalise her pain. Her lips began to tremble as she desperately tried to bottle up her pain and abject misery. She wiped away some of the tears that gradually trailed down to her chin before staring at her tear-stained hand as she began to shake. Pidge tried to stifle her sobs, forcefully shutting her eyes as a way to block out her tears. As she closed her eyes, a vision flickered in her mind. A vision of Lance. She saw his smile. She could practically hear him cracking one of his corny jokes or using one of his dumb pick up lines. She saw the fond look in his eyes.  But she knew that Lance was smiling at someone else. That Lance was using one of his dumb pick up lines on someone else. That Lance was looking fondly at someone else. That Lance loved someone else. The painful image of Lance giving his heart to someone else caused her own heart to take a sledgehammer to the floodgates that suppressed her emotions. Pidge began to break down entirely as every ounce of pain and misery that she had bottled up began to pour out all at once.

As it was the middle of the night, Pidge wept silently with her face in her hands. She always thought that crying about boys was beneath her. That she’d never let something like that get to her. Yet, here she was. Broken-hearted over Lance. She stifled a breath, trying to get herself to stop crying; but she just couldn’t.

Across from Pidge’s room, Matt was sound asleep. In his slumber; his brain filled itself with rose-tinted fantasies of all the beautiful women he met in his travels with the Coalition. Matt was in the middle of a pretty R-rated dream involving two particularly muscular alien women and a kiddy pool filled with cherries and honey when his brotherly instincts kicked in. Matt jolted awake, like a cat in ice water. He sat up in his bed in a cold sweat. Something was urging him to claw himself out of bed. He jumped out of bed and put on a shirt.

 _Something was_ **_wrong._ **

He opened the door and heard music coming from Pidge’s room. Music that she would only ever play if she really wasn’t doing okay. Matt knocked on Pidge’s door as he opened it.

“Pidge? Are you alright?” Matt asked.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” Pidge replied.

“Katie, you’ve been a terrible liar ever since you could form coherent sentences. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”  
  
“You’re playing Southern Rainstorms by Disquiet at the Dance Hall. You only ever play this song when you’re really depressed.” Matt told her.

Pidge gave a sigh.

“It’s Lance. I told him I had feelings for him, but he didn’t give me an answer. He said he needed time to “process it”. I always assumed he didn’t like me back, but it hurts being right.”

Matt put an arm around her sister’s shoulder to calm her down as he put all the information together. If he knew anything about Pidge (which he does), it’s that she always assumes the worst case scenario, which causes her to spiral out of control. In this case, since Lance didn’t give her an answer, Pidge probably jumped to the conclusion that Lance doesn’t want anything to do with her romantically, and that she’d die alone (probably). Matt needed to talk with Lance. Once he’s had time to “process it” or whatever.

\---[Three days later]---

Three days.

Matt endured three agonizing days of Lance and Pidge avoiding each other. Conversations between the two were scarce, with interactions between each other never lasting more than 5 seconds. It was painful to watch. Matt caught Lance as he was just leaving his classroom, placing a hand on Lance’s shoulder.

“Hey, Lance. Let’s uh… let’s take a walk. Alright buddy?” Matt told him.

“I feel like I don’t get a choice.” Lance said.

“You most certainly don’t!” Matt told him in a faked jovial tone.

Matt walked Lance to the nearest empty classroom, closing the door behind him, before walking over to Lance.

“You know, I just noticed how nice the uniforms you guys got were. Looks good on you.” Matt told him, as he tugged on the sleeves of Lance’s uniform.

“Uh, thanks…” Lance said, still unsure as to what Matt wanted with him

Matt paused for a second before balling up his fist and slamming Lance in the jaw with all the force of a 14 year old child on his birthday swinging at a piñata after his parents announced that they were getting a divorce. The force of the punch was enough to knock Lance on his ass. If Lance were anything less than a Paladin of Voltron, that kind of punch would have knocked him unconscious. Lance groaned in pain as he clutched his jaw.

“What the fuck was that for?” Lance asked.

Matt gave him a shrug. “You made my sister cry. It’s only fair. If you found out that I made Rachel cry, I’m pretty sure you’d take a bat to my head. Get up, Lance. We need to talk. Don’t worry, I won’t hit you again.” Matt explained.

“Fair enough. Jeez, you got one hell of a cannon for a right arm...” Lance said as he got to his feet. “Wait. I made Pidge cry? Is this about what I said a couple of days ago?” Lance said with a pit in his stomach

“Yeah. Listen. I know you gave her a bit of a non-answer and left it a bit vague. You weren't sure. I get it.” Matt said

“I didn’t think-” Lance began to say, before Matt interrupted him.

“Dude. I get it. It was a lot to process and you thought it was a good way to explain that to her. I’m not gonna fault you for that. Here’s the thing. I know my sister like I know my own mind. When you give her an answer like that, she’s gonna assume the worst-case scenario. So… if you say that you don’t know if you reciprocate her feelings towards you…” Matt started to explain.

“She’ll think I don’t have feelings for her.” Lance realized

“And then some! Which is why I’m gonna ask you, Lance. Do you have feelings for my sister?” Matt asked.

“Wha-”  
  
“Yes or no. Don’t give me any bullshit, Lance. Do you like Katie or not? Simple question. A one word answer is all I need.” Matt said, continuing to press the question.

“Yes! Yes, I have romantic feelings for Pidge!” Lance said before pausing at this epiphany.

He never really realised that he had romantic feelings for Pidge until the words left his mouth. She was cute. She was funny. She loved video games. She was so passionate about everything she loved. Hanging around her always bettered his day. He loved spending his day with her, but he never realised that he didn’t just love spending time with her, but that he loved her in general. Her smile, her laugh, her terrible, terrible puns. Everything.

His eyes widened as Matt gave a smirk. He raced for the door, pausing for a second to look back at Matt, who looked confused as Lance stared back at him.

“What the fuck are you gawking at _**me**_ for? If you like my sister, then go get her. What are you waiting for? A handwritten letter from me, giving you my blessing to ask out my sister? “Dear Lance, You have my fucking blessing!” Now, quit standing there and go!” Matt said.

Lance ran through the halls of the Garrison like a bat out of hell. He found Pidge teaching one of her classes. Lance impatiently waited for the bell to ring and for the students to leave

“Lance?” Pidge asked, confused as to why Lance would suddenly confront her like this. “Listen, if this is about a few days ago, I get it. I’m not the type of girl you’d be into. But I’ve come to terms with that. I’m not gonna pretend that I’d ever be your type. It made things weird. Lance, you’re my best friend. You’re my partner in crime. You’re…” Pidge began saying

“An idiot!” Lance interjected. “I’m an idiot, Pidge. I’ve been an idiot for a while and I’ve just now realized how much of an idiot I really am. I’m probably the dumbest guy you’ve ever met. Just… hear me out..” Lance said.

Pidge was caught off guard by this statement. “Lance, what the fuck are you saying?” Pidge said, even more confused as to why he’d respond with such an outrageous statement.   
“I’m an idiot for not realising that I had feelings for you. You’re one of the most amazing people I know, Pidge. And I never realized how much I liked you until now. It took me this long to realize that you’re my fucking dream girl! I hope you’re not still mad about the bullshit answer that I gave you a couple of days ago, but…” Lance said, beginning to ramble.

Pidge gave a smile, chuckling slightly before placing both hands on his cheeks. “I won’t deny that you’re an idiot. Because you are. Dumbest guy I’ve ever met is a bit of a stretch, and probably false, but you are an idiot. But you’re my idiot. Whether you like me or not.” Pidge told him, fondly looking into his eyes.

Lance stared back with the same fond look, as he put his arms around her and pulled her in for a kiss. Lance had kissed people before, but kissing Pidge was different. The moment his lips pressed against hers, Lance’s brain was flooded with feelings of undistilled joy and and unrestrained passion. The moment set his heart aflame with feelings he could barely describe. A feeling of freedom, and of seeing the light. A feeling that he and Pidge were meant to be together and share thousands upon thousands of moments just like this one.

It was at this moment that they both remembered they were in a hallway at the school, since half of the students in the hallway began to cheer. They both gave a slightly embarrassed look. Pidge and Lance turned to looked at each other and smiled, as Lance pulled Pidge in for a hug.

“By the way, your brother has one hell of a right hook.” Lance said.

“Matt punched you?” Pidge replied.

“Yeah. He hit me in the jaw like... 5 minutes ago.” Lance said.

“Oh man. Sorry about that.” Pidge exclaimed.

“It’s fine. I deserved it. Hey, I’m going on break soon. Wanna play some Killbot Phantasm for a bit?” Lance asked.

“I thought you’d never ask.” Pidge replied.

“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you, now that we’re dating, _Katie Kat_.” Lance said.

“Oh, just for that, the fucking gloves are coming **_off_ ** , Lance. Dibs on Chaeyra. Expect to be served a heavy loss, _my love_.” Pidge replied, giving Lance a wink after pecking Lance on the lips.

“Seriously, Pidgey? Chaeyra’s so OP! Her Crossbow Volley is broken and you know it!”  
  
“Oh, get off your high horse, sweetie. The only reason you got out of Silver 3 is because they buffed Caius’ Sun Bolts.”

The two lovebirds kept arguing about how broken each others’ mains were as they walked arm-in-arm to the break room as if nothing between them had changed. The new couple were fully content spending their break doing what they’ve always loved doing most: Kicking each other’s asses at Killbot Phantasm.

 


End file.
